United States

The United States of America was once a proud and mighty nation that grew from thirteen former colonies of the British Empire to controlling a substantial amount of North America. During the 1930s it fractured, along with neighboring nation Canada, into twenty-three independent nations.

History
After a long series of disagreements with King George III of the British Empire went unresolved, thirteen colonies rebelled and banded together on July 4, 1776, and in the years that followed the United States of America was formally established and its government modified. It seemed, following a triumph of the federal government and Unionist sentiment over state power and rights in the American Civil War, that the United States would endure for a long time to come. This idea was reinforced when the United States entered the Great War in 1917, and its expeditionary force sent to Europe by the Army, Navy and Marine Corps returned victorious in 1918. The returning troops brought more than triumphant stories home with them, however; the first influenza epidemic struck North America that year.

The next blow came when the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution failed in 1920. Alcohol's legality thereafter completely depended on which state a person lived in, and wet and dry states began creating checkpoints at state lines. Kentucky and West Virginia then started an armed conflict with Virginia and North Carolina, bringing state law enforcement and militia in as they fought over their respective alcohol laws. Both sides ignored repeated "suggestions" from the federal government to resolve the issue until they threatened to send the U.S. Army to intervene.

In 1927, the Great Influenza Epidemic struck, beginning in New York. In response, states began to close their borders to ground-based travel. The following year, during the U.S. Presidential election of 1928 and a number of state elections, state-first sentiment began rising as several state-level candidates ran on "strong state" platforms. Upon winning office, these leaders began negotiating inter-state agreements and alliances, completely ignoring the federal government.

The death knell for the troubled nation was sounded when the U.S. stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. The prosperity of the "Roaring Twenties" swiftly became a distant memory as the entire country was reduced to economic ruin. With separatist sentiment rising and no solution coming from a weakened and indecisive federal government led by President Herbert Hoover, the end was near. Texas declared sovereignty on January 1, 1930, taking Oklahoma with it and re-forming the Republic of Texas. New York followed quickly, recruiting New Jersey and Pennsylvania and forming the Empire State on February 1, 1930. On the same day, California seceded and re-named itself the Nation of Hollywood. Utah seceded in April, calling itself the Nation of Deseret, and six Southern states seceded between April and May, forming a loose confederation of states under the name Confederation of Dixie.

The intial crumbling of the Union gained speed as more and more states quit, or were simply forced to create their own unions and alliances as it became obvious the United States government had no power anymore. That fact was driven home when the US Army was defeated in the Battle of Fort Scott, Kansas by the People's Revolt on September 20, 1931. The United States government and military swiftly disentegrated as word of this defeat spread, and by the end of 1931 the United States of America no longer existed.

Companies
Over a thousand companies and corporations were based within the United States before its breakup in 1930, with countless firms having been created during the industrialization of the early 1900s alone.

Militia
The United States Armed Forces was responsible for all matters of national defense. It consisted of:


 * United States Army- Land warfare.


 * United States Marine Corps- Amphibious warfare.


 * United States Navy- Sea warfare.


 * United States Army Air Corps- Air warfare.


 * United States Coast Guard- Maritime law enforcement, coastal defense, search & rescue.

Political Relations
Ever since its creation in 1776, the United States had maintained foreign relations as a sovereign state. By the end of the Great War in 1918, it had become a world power and played a prominent role in world affairs. In particular, despite past disagreements, it maintained an alliance with the British Empire and had assisted the Allied Powers in achieving victory in the Great War.

After that conflict, however, the United States began to turn inward as its population lost interest in world affairs. This disinterest intensified enormously when the U.S. stock market crashed on October 24, 1929. After that, the United States lasted just two more years before vanishing completely as over a dozen new nations and independent territories took its place.